Which office at the Department of Education is responsible for overseeing Personal Financial Literacy (Standard 9.1)?

The Office of Career and Technical Education

When were districts required to align their K-12 curriculum to the Personal Financial Literacy standards?

Districts should have aligned their comprehensive career education system to the Personal Financial Literacy standards by September 2015.

Will the state require specific textbooks for this course?

Instructional materials, including any textbooks, are a district decision.

Graduation Requirements:

Can students earn graduation credit for accomplishing the requirements of Standard 9.1?

N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1v. Graduation requirements
(a) District boards of education shall develop, adopt, and implement local graduation requirements, for a State-endorsed diploma, that prepare students for success in post-secondary degree programs, careers, and civic life in the 21st century according to N.J.A.C. 6A:8-3.1(c)2 and that include the following:

What strategies can districts employ to fulfill the 2.5 required credits in financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy?

By completing a stand-alone, half-year course and taught by staff holding a Social Studies; Business: Finance, Economics, and Law; Comprehensive Business; Comprehensive Family and Consumer Sciences; General Business certificate; or Math certificate.

By completing one or more elective courses that integrate the content and skills required by N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)1vand taught by staff holding a Social Studies; Business: Finance, Economics, and Law; Comprehensive Business; Comprehensive Family and Consumer Sciences; General Business certificate; or Math certificate.

Can a student receive graduation credit by taking a single course that satisfies both the 2.5 Personal Financial Literacy requirement and the 5.0 21st Century Life and Careers or Career and Technical Education requirement?

A student may not receive two sets of Carnegie-Unit-like credits for the same experience.

Will the state of NJ be utilizing an exit test to assess student mastery for this requirement?

School Districts are "responsible for assessing and publicly reporting on the progress of all students in developing the knowledge and skills specified by the Core Curriculum Content Standards, including civics, financial literacy, and all content areas not currently included in the Statewide assessment program," as specified by N.J.A.C. 6A:8‑3.1(a)3.

Personal Financial Literacy Implementation:

What teacher certificate(s) are required to teach Personal Financial Literacy?Business education teachers holding a Business Education certificate, including certificates #1300, #1301 or #1302 and their predecessors may teach financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy. OR

Family and consumer teachers holding the Family and Consumer Science certificate #1705 or its predecessors may teach financial literacy. OR

Math teachers holding the Mathematics certificate #1900 and its predecessors may teach business math courses that would satisfy business literacy. OR

Social studies teachers holding the Social Studies certificate #2300 or its predecessors may teach economic literacy.

Do teachers have to be highly qualified as per No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to deliver Personal Financial Literacy curriculum?

Only those teachers of "core academic subjects" for example, math and social studies, need to demonstrate highly qualified status. Teachers from other content areas such as Business and FACS do not. Special Education teachers should follow the Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) requirements.

Can the course be delivered using online course delivery methods (Internet-based programs), or must it be delivered through a seat-time delivery system? Can a combination of seat-time and online programs be utilized to meet the requirement?

It is currently a local decision. Will local districts determine in what year or years of high school the course will be delivered, or will this be stipulated by the State Department of Education?